Dangote to reopen tomato factory

The Dangote Tomato Paste Processing Factory in Kadawa, Kura Local Government Area of Kano State is to resume production in February 2017.

The company, which started production in February 2016, had to suspend operation due to shortfall in supply of the needed raw materials.

Alhaji Abdulkadir Kaita, Managing Director of the company, who disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Kano on Tuesday, noted that preparation for production to resume was at an advanced stage.

He explained that the company had to suspend production when most of the tomato farms in about five states were affected by the dreaded tomato pests, which destroyed all the tomato species in 2016.

Kaita said; “We expect that tomato farmers would have produced enough for the company to process, hence our decision to resume production in February. Many tomato farmers at the Kadawa, Kura, Garun-Malam and Hadeja-Jama’ are at irrigation sites and are expected to produce enough for the company to process.

“We deliberately decided to resume production in February because we don’t want to create a scarcity of the commodity. We want to make sure that there is enough to process so that its price will not go up.”

“All our trained staff are still with us and we are paying them a salary but if there is a need to recruit additional staff, we will do so to ensure effective service delivery. The company has the capacity to process 40 trucks or 1,200 tonnes of fresh tomatoes per day, would soon begin recruitment of additional staff.

He, however, noted that the pest, popularly known as “Tuta Absoluta,’’ destroyed tomato farms in Kano, Jigawa, Plateau, Katsina and Kaduna states massively in 2016.